There’s no bigger pop star in the world right now than Sabrina Carpenter. The 26-year-old had a breakout year in 2024 thanks to her global smash ‘Espresso’ and her sixth studio album “Short n’ Sweet”. The hits kept coming with ‘Please Please Please’, ‘Taste’ and ‘Bed Chem’ all charting strongly, and a deluxe edition of “Short n’ Sweet” spawning another hit, ‘Busy Woman’. As she gears up for the release of her seventh studio album “Man’s Best Friend” in August, Carpenter has another number one under her belt with the Country-tinged ‘Manchild’.
Currently in the midst of her “Short n’ Sweet’ World Tour, which kicked off in Columbus, Ohio on 23rd September 2024, Carpenter played several UK and Ireland arena shows back in March. Now she’s back to headline two nights at BST Hyde Park, the first of which took place last night with a sold-out crowd of 60,000 fans. With anticipation high, and a fast-growing catalogue of hits, could Carpenter deliver? Arriving on stage around 9pm, a video introduction played with Carpenter addressing the London audience in the style of a 60s news broadcast. The 60s theme continued throughout the set, with the stage decked out like a 60s TV studio and tongue-in-cheek 60s-style ‘adverts’ playing between songs.
The first song of the 17-song set was ‘Busy Woman’. Wearing a sparkly red sleeved leotard with her name encrusted across the front (her first of two outfits for the night), Carpenter confidently strutted around The Great Oak Stage and looked every inch the superstar. With her trademark blonde hair and cheeky personality, she had fans screaming from the moment she walked onto the stage. Front-loading her set with some of her strongest songs – ‘Taste’ and ‘Good Graces’ were a fantastic early double-punch – Carpenter put on one heck of a polished pop performance. A few times during the first songs, the backing track proved a little too loud making it hard to hear Carpenter’s vocals but that seemed to iron itself out as the set progressed.
Current smash ‘Manchild’ went down a storm and for ‘Sharpest Tool’, Carpenter stripped things back and sat at the end of the stage’s catwalk accompanied only by her guitarist. It was a chance to really hear her voice, and while she’s not a powerhouse vocalist, she has suitable depth and range for the kind of music she makes. Her tone has a nice light and airy quality when she travels up the scales, and a few times during the evening she pushed herself to belt out notes that should prove her doubters wrong. The majority of the set was pulled from “Short n’ Sweet” but Carpenter did showcase some songs from sixth studio album “Emails I Can’t Send”. ‘because i liked a boy’ received a big reaction as did ‘Nonsense’ but the crowd really went wild when Carpenter performed ‘Feather’, the song that started to give her real traction on the charts.
A cover of “It’s Raining Men”, paying homage to the unpredictable British weather, landed in the middle of the set as did a dance competition, which saw her backing dancers competing for the applause of the audience. The cheeky “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder” saw Carpenter channel her inner Olivia Newton-John circa ‘Grease’ and the controversial ‘Bed Chem’ was the night’s only sexually-charged performance, introduced by a ‘Parental discretion advised’ notice on the video screen. During ‘Juno’ Carpenter ‘arrested’ a fan on the front row for being ‘too beautiful’ and fans lapped up the interaction, while ‘Please Please Please’ sounded superb in the surroundings of Hyde Park.
The penultimate song of the night was “Don’t Smile”, which saw Carpenter walk through the audience into the middle of Hyde Park where she was elevated on a platform. As the credits rolled on the video screen, a clearly emotional Carpenter looked out into the sea of people, taking in what she’s earlier labelled ‘the biggest show of my career’. Returning to The Great Oak Stage, Carpenter ended the night with her signature hit ‘Espresso’ complete with fireworks and a sing-a-long from the audience. As the final bars played out, Carpenter thanked her band, her dancers and her fans before leaving the stage.
For a popstar that regularly finds herself on the receiving end of criticism for being ‘overtly sexual’, Carpenter gave a mostly PG-13 show last night. She’s found her groove during the “Short n’ Sweet” era and her personality is as much the appeal as her catchy songs. During her set she sounded great, she looked great and she engaged the audience throughout. Honestly, it’s nice to have a pop star making decent pop music that has a personality. How long Carpenter can stay at the top remains to be seen but given a new album is around the corner and she’s selling out two nights at BST Hyde Park, I’d say she’s going to be dominating the charts for a while. In a time when music is becoming more and more disposable, and concerts are increasingly feeling like a cash-grab, it was welcome to see Carpenter putting on a proper polished pop production that was worthy of her status as the biggest pop star in the world.
Set list: 1. Busy Woman 2. Taste 3. Good Graces 4. Slim Pickins 5. Manchild 6. Coincidence 7. Sharpest Tool 8. because i liked a boy 9. It’s Raining Men 10. Nonsense 11. Couldn’t Make It Any Harder 12. Feather 13. Bed Chem 14. Juno 15. Please Please Please 16. Don’t Smile 17. Espresso Venue: Hyde Park Performance date: 5th July 2025
